How quickly do they forget how to latch?

[slightly crunchy]

First I'll say I'm not sure if I belong in this new forum or not, but not sure where to put this. I nurse my 32 month old but since I have become pregnant he has cut down to 1-2 times/day. I have sometimes asked him to cut the nursings short due to nipple soreness, but not in quite some time, and I believe he has cut down mostly on his own. I am okay with our current frequency and am open to tandeming.

Anyway, in the past week, twice at bedtime he has seemingly forgotten how to latch. I stop him and ask him to try again. This happened two nights ago and he tried several different times but had a very shallow suck and it was very painful for me. He got upset and asked "How do I suck?" and other than having him open his mouth wider, and us trying different positions, I didn't know what to tell him. Last night he did fine again and seemed very proud that he was able to nurse correctly again. Tonight, though, we had the same problem. Eventually he was able to latch on for a minute, but then reverted back to the faulty latch that HURT.

I am 22 weeks pregnant. Is this due to my milk finally drying up? If he really does forget and stop asking then I guess that will have to be okay with me. But he still asks to nurse regularly at bedtime and has gotten upset when it doesn't work out. It is already very uncomfortable to nurse him, but frankly when he can't latch right it is excruciating and I'm not really sure what to do.

Any thoughts or sharing of similar experiences are welcome.

[Viola]

My child seemed to forget how to latch even though she still nursed occasionally. I've talked to other moms whose children seemed to be less effective at nursing once they hit 4 or so, but I'm not sure how common that is.

My daughter tapered off from nursing around 3.5. She cut down and was only nursing every week to 10 days, and once it wasn't a daily thing, she didn't seem to be effective at all. But she stopped nursing in the first place because she said I had no milk. Then I got pregnant and I seemed to start producing colostrum right away and I'd ask her if she wanted to nurse. A few times she asked and she said she still couldn't get anything, probably because she just put her mouth there and didn't suck. Then once when she was 5 she asked to nurse and I clearly had milk, but she just couldn't suck. She told me she didn't know how.

[Dragonfly]

My son is 4 and is nursing sporadically now and he seems to have forgotten how to latch well, also. I ask him to open his mouth wider, but he mostly latches on to just my nipple. Very uncomfortable.

[TiredX2]

My DD definately just "forgot" suddenly. She had been slowly weaning (skipping a day or two, then going back, etc...) and one day she just said, "I can't do it." Tried again the next day and then decided she was weaned (there was plenty of milk, that wasn't the issue, she just "couldn't").

But, there are many people who go for days, weeks, months and their child comes back w/ a great latch I, personally, consider the "forgetting how to" one method of weaning.

[GoodWillHunter]

Ds3 is 39 months old and still nursing... he nurses twicw a day... however, if he were to wean, i wouldn't mind. his latch hurts.

[nicolebeth]

I was just noticing the same thing. I'm 18 weeks pregnant and my daughter is almost 32 months. She's nursing once or twice a day--this morning, half-asleep at 6:30, she did ok. Last night, and the night before, it hurt! It did seem like she didn't know what she was doing. She's nursing for only a few seconds, though, on each side. (I tell her to be careful, and she seems to go a little more gently.) I feel like she's probably weaning, which is ok. I feel badly though that she still seems to want to nurse but probably isn't sure why it's different now!

[NaturalMamma]

My DD self-weaned a few wks before her 4th bday and for months prior to that her latch wasn't as efficient. I though that was really strange b/c she was nursing several times a day. I wonder if it has anything to do with their changing mouth or the fact that they're more accustomed to drinking from a cup which doesn't require suction. Interesting that others have experienced this b/c while I was going through it, I was perplexed.

[MountainMamaOf2]

I am so grateful that I found this post! THank you everybody--this helps!

Hearing about the similar latching on experiences, makes some sense...

My dd is now 33 months, and over the last few weeks, her latch on just wasn't quite right at times. What she'd do (or does) actually, is *pull* on my nipple...we all know how that feels!

A couple months ago, before any of this, i think I intuitively had the sense my body could use some support, so I increased my Milk Thistle, my Weleda Nursing tea, and took Lactation Support (mix of herbs in liquid form in capsules) by Gaia Herbs.

I slowly let go of taking all the herbs and then recently began to ask my dd and now I have solid confirmation!
"No, no more milk, Mommy"

Mmmm....well, most of what I've heard about milk drying up has had to do with pregnancy and that's not the case! We still nurse at night and certainly wouldn't give it up tomorrow!

Any more info, please pass along...!
Thanks,
Wendy

[TiredX2]

Mmmm....well, most of what I've heard about milk drying up has had to do with pregnancy and that's not the case!

That's interesting. Anyone else notice that with time, supply drops independent of nursing time AND pg? I notice my supply is down (DS is 40 months) but definately not pg.